You’d be forgiven for thinking that to choose any car recycling or scrapping firm on the market would be to choose a legal one, but not…sadly not. As is the case with most subjects and jobs of key importance, the UK government is pretty clear when it comes the rules and regulations those in the scrapping and recycling business must follow. But then again, it’s not like everyone is quite as keen to play by the rules as others might be.
So from the Take My Scrap Car Team, here’s a quick look at just a few of the more important boxes to tick when it comes to making sure your car is scrapped and recycled both legally and responsibly: 
1 – Reputation
Before going any further at all, you might want to do a quick online search for the brand you’re looking at in order to see if they’ve been ‘red flagged’ or in any way aroused attention for all the wrong reasons. You’d be surprised what you can find out with a quick search or two – usually it’ll be a glowing report in favour of the scrapping firm, but from time to time you might not be won over by what you read.
2 – Paperwork
It’s a matter of UK law that a scrapping and recycling provider simply must provide certain paperwork when taking any scrap car or vehicle. Like being given a receipt in a store, they must both keep a record of the vehicles they take and provide proof of transfer to the former owner of the car. And if there’s a price paid for the car…which there should be…it should again be accompanied by official paperwork and should not change hands as cash.
3 – No Hidden Fees
Always look closely into the way the brand operates with regard to fees and charges. The reason being that it’s one thing for a company to offer you a free scrapping service or even claim to pay you, but if they then charge you for taking the car away and sorting the paperwork, you might end up well and truly out of pocket. Any hidden fees or charges are signs of dishonest service providers – all of which should of course be avoided.
4 – Responsible Recycling
Dig a little deeper into what the company says it will do with your car once it’s taken away. There are very strict rules by which cars within the EU must be recycled, which means that if the firm you’re looking at isn’t obeying all the rules, they could well be breaking the law.
5 – DVLA Notification
Last but not least, it always pays to side with a car recycling service that’s committed to making sure all the admin details are tended to and that the DVLA is notified of the car’s new status. After all, the last thing you want is to find yourself facing a large fine having done what you believed was the responsible thing to do!
